In every expedient presented in the Lotus Sutra, the expedient is also useful and a necessary step along the way to the ultimate teaching. Nothing the Sravakas or Pratyekabuddhas were taught was useless or of no value. Everything they were taught is necessary to their practice and to our practice even today. The Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Twelve Link Chain of Causation are all important and necessary teachings to enable us to fully understand and practice the Lotus Sutra.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraQuotes
The Actual Awakening of the Buddha
Just as Myoho Renge Kyo expresses the actual awakening of the Buddha, the addition of Namu expresses our faith in the Wonderful Dharma and our determination to achieve Buddhahood ourselves. Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is the unification of our practice to attain awakening and the actual awakening of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha.
Lotus SeedsGender in the Lotus Sutra
The Parable of the Skillful Physician and His Sick Children is about an excellent physician who has quite a few sons, up to 100 to be exact. It might seem strange to us today that of the 100 children they were all sons and not a one is mentioned as being a daughter. We have to remember this was written in a time when women were really not considered much when teaching was done. We do have in the Lotus Sutra some of the most dramatic and historically noteworthy breaking of conventions regarding women and Buddhism; still the sutra is not perfect in every way.
There are some who argue the sutra should be rewritten to be more gender equitable or neutral. I am opposed to this for the simple reason that the harsh truth is the sutra was not in fact written with a modern equality sensibility.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraThe True Nature of Reality Itself
Myoho Renge Kyo, the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, is not simply a scripture or a kind of conceptual teaching. It represents the true nature of reality itself. While the title – Myoho Renge Kyo – is the name of the scripture, more importantly it refers to the ultimate reality, which is what the scripture is teaching. Myoho Renge Kyo is the unity of the life of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Wonderful Dharma, and the union of the Buddha’s awakening and our own Buddha-nature. By reciting the title, we are calling upon and bringing to mind the profound teaching, or Wonderful Dharma, of the Lotus Sutra. We recite the title because the Buddha-nature within us responds to its meaning and significance. In turn, the Odaimoku acts as a catalyst that brings out our awakening.
Lotus SeedsThe Mark of a Skillful Dharma Talk
Whether a Dharma talk succeeds or fails does not depend on the teacher’s eloquence or on whether his or her knowledge of the Dharma is profound or superficial. The transformative power of a teaching depends entirely on the teacher’s understanding and clear perception of the psychological state and situation of those who will receive it. A Dharma talk must always be appropriate in two ways: it must accord perfectly with the spirit of the Dharma, and it must also respond perfectly to the situation in which it is given. If it only corresponds perfectly with the teachings but does not meet the needs of the listeners, it’s not a good Dharma talk, it’s not appropriate.
The Dharma is like a powerful lamp, helping people to see deeply into their situation and releasing them from suffering. When a teaching touches real concerns, real suffering, it can unblock the obstacles and difficulties that are there in the mind of the listener. When you hear a Dharma talk that is appropriate in these two ways, faithful to both the true teaching and the actual conditions and situation of the listeners, you have the feeling that it is directed to you personally. It is as if the teacher has seen right into your heart and is speaking to you and you alone. When many people have this feeling, that is the mark of a skillful Dharma talk.
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p63-64
True Nirvana
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p52The teachings of the shravakayana – the Four Noble Truths, and so on – were taught to help people free themselves from delusion and get some relief from their suffering. The fruit of this path, nirvana, literally means “to extinguish,” just as one blows out a candle flame. The idea was that you would leave the burning house of samsara once and for all, never to be reborn. But leaving behind one’s delusions and thinking of nirvana as extinction are not yet the authentic liberation. It is the first part of liberation, but it is not the whole picture. The idea of nirvana as extinction is a teaching that uses skillful means to bring people into the path of practice.
The Mahayana proposed an understanding of nirvana, which is not separate from our existence in the world. True nirvana is possible in the here and now when we are able to get in touch with the ultimate dimension of reality. Just as a wave does not have to die in order to live in its ultimate dimension of water, we do not have to “extinguish” ourselves in order to reach nirvana. When we get in touch with our true nature, our ultimate dimension, we are freed from fears of existence and nonexistence. We know that “samsara” and “nirvana” are just distinctions in the realm of the historical dimension, and no such distinction exists in the ultimate dimension. As bodhisattvas, assured of Buddhahood, we ride joyfully on the waves of birth and death, abiding fearlessly in samsara to help guide others to liberation.
Transmitting Spiritual Energy
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p47All living beings are able to become a Buddha, but they all become a Buddha in a different way, and each Buddha teaches in a different way. A wise teacher, when he or she looks at their disciples, is able to see which path each disciple will follow in the future and the realization they will attain, and with this knowledge the teacher can help their disciples have more confidence and follow the right path. Giving a prediction is a transmission of spiritual energy from teacher to disciple.
The Teachings of the Lotus Sutra
The idea held by some sects that Nichiren was the teacher of Shakyamuni in some remote past is nothing Nichiren ever claimed. That suggestion only obscures the Eternal Buddha and the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. It is also an attempt to elevate some Nichiren denominations by their claim that somehow they practice a True Buddhism that stands above the Lotus Sutra. It is only by discouraging their followers from actually studying the Lotus Sutra and by offering convoluted explanations that make no logical sense and fly in the face of Nichiren’s own teaching that these denominations seek to elevate their standing.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraThe Seven Chapters of Clear Exposition
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p45[C]hapter 3 through Chapter 9 are called “the seven chapters of clear exposition,” and they serve to further clarify skillful means. At the very end of Chapter Two, the Buddha says in verse,
All of you, knowing now
That the Buddhas, the Teachers of the Ages,
In accord with what is peculiarly appropriate have recourse to expedient devices,
Need have no more doubts or uncertainties.
Your hearts shall give rise to great joy,
Since you know that you yourselves shall become Buddhas.
Our Heartfelt Wish and Firm Faith
The recitation of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is the verbal expression of our heartfelt wish to attain Buddhahood. It is also a statement of our firm faith that Buddhahood is the true nature of our lives, which can be realized anew in every moment. In avowing these ideas, we plant the seed of awakening within our lives and within the lives of others. The more we nourish this seed through our practice, the more our life will manifest the qualities of a buddha.
Lotus Seeds